If you do a quick search of things to do in Seattle, surprisingly, a library will come up, and for good reason. The Seattle Public Library is a beautifully modern building located downtown. The building, which is almost entirely glass, or so it appears, is a unique design with angular windows with diamond patterns all over. The library is something you should certainly see if in the area. But when I think of beautiful libraries, it is hard to overlook the one that I walk by everyday on campus, Suzzallo Library.

Often referred as being the “Hogwarts library” by those not knowing its name, Suzzallo has been recognized as one of the nicest libraries in the country, and for good reason (heres a link for all you non-believers). Naturally, I wanted to spend a day in the library studying rather than in my tiny room. So I packed up by bag with my books and laptop and headed towards Suzzallo. Walking through red square, the giant, gothic looking building is constantly in your peripherals, reminding you that school is actually for studying. I stopped to get some food at one of the food trucks then headed into Suzzallo.

At first Suzzallo greets you like any other library. I walked into some metal detectors, an open room with some stairs and a café. I head up the stairs to the reading room that looks like the main dining hall from Hogwarts. What a place to study. I walk with my mouth open as I admire the stained glass, tall ceilings and awesome architecture. I finally choose a seat, which is a wooden chair with some armrests, not the most comfortable place to sit my ass for 5 hours. I unloaded my bag as quietly as I could, but the room is an echo chamber. Ever time you drop a pencil, the room echoes. The rest of my story is pretty bland, as I sat reading and listening to music. Some kid seating two seats over slammed his head on the light over hang in the middle of the table, which made for some comedy and laughs from the room.

After 5 hours and a changing of day to night, I decided to head home, only to read and do more homework. Overall it was a boring day, but it was a nice change of scenery, especially if you go from a white room to an awesome library. Anyone who has been to the University of Washington knows the beauty of the campus and the library, so if you are visiting Seattle and are looking for a nice place to walk through, read, or just admire, be sure to put the University of Washington and Suzzallo on your list. I will certainly be back.

Here is a photograph of how the library looks with a good camera, which I found off Flickr.

Note: In order to not be “that guy” I quickly snapped photos with my iPhone camera.

The beauty of the underrated PAC 12 conference is that there are many quality ranked teams. The PAC 12 is the conference that is overlooked by ESPN for the power conferences like SEC, Big 10 and Big 12, but the twelve teams that play on the pacific coast are no slouches. The PAC 12 has 4 teams ranked in the top 25, featuring #3 Oregon, #8 Oregon State, #10 USC, and #20 Stanford (current rankings)

I had previously missed my first chance to see the University of Washington Huskies play the Stanford Cardinals, who were ranked #6 at the time. To my dismay, I was sitting in class while my peers rushed the field in celebration. When the rankings came out on Sunday, the Huskies cracked the top 25. A position we soon relinquished.

I knew I had to go to the USC, the first game I wasn’t tied down with orientation or class. Taboot, my great friend Tynan was going to be in town, so it would be even more fun. I acquired tickets through the student ticketing office. Tickets cost $20 each to sit in section 126, which was right behind the sold out “Dawg Pack”, the dedicated student section.

Come gameday, I woke up with a bit of a hangover and little sleep because the night before Tynan and I went to a Macklemore and Ryan Lewis concert. After a brunch and some mimosas, Ty and I met up with my friend Ian at my apartment to drink some beers and watch some college football. With a solid buzz and some portable drinks, we went out to brave the misty, cool Seattle weather.

If you go on Facebook you won’t find me. Something I haven’t been able to say for 4 years. Something that goes against common practice for someone my age. I have been toying with the decision to delete my Facebook for quite some time, but being a digital media student it has been hard to let go. Last Sunday I decided to pull the trigger and delete my Facebook.

I found myself spending too much time on Facebook. If I was on my computer or phone, I had to check it. It turned into an impulsive habit. If I were reading an article for class, or writing a paper, I would periodically have to check my Facebook. I knew it wasn’t good, but it was hard to control myself when it was just a click away. I needed to change that.

The first day I deleted my Facebook was tough. I felt disconnected. Every time I opened my browser, I caught myself in the middle of going to Facebook. It is a feeling of disconnect that overwhelms. Now, after a week I feel good about my decision. I have seen my friend check his on my computer and did not feel any urges to reactivate my own.

I must say, however, I do feel disconnected from some friends and activities that I know are planned online. Especially for my graduate program, there are many advantages of Facebook, where it is used as a platform to reach people for planning events, connecting to employers, and getting work done. I think after a long detox, I will be able to reactivate my account and feel less connected. For now, I am going to continue to live without and stay focused.

If anyone were thinking of doing something similar, I would recommend it. I feel good not always checking my Facebook to read the torpid statuses. If and when I do reactivate my account, I will be downsizing my friend’s list to less than 100.

Fremont. Quite a cool place. I woke up in the morning knowing I wanted to do something on my list. Weather is perfect, leaves are changing, and I needed to get out of my small apartment. I have heard great things about Fremont and have already been to the troll, so I took the opportunity to get to know the area conveniently close to University of Washington.

Eat a peanut butter and jelly. I am on a budget after all. Still new to the city, I had to look up which bus to take to Fremont. I hop on the 31 with ease and sit down watching streets I don’t know fly by. Freaking out I missed my stop, I decided to get off on a random busy street. I wasn’t really sure where the happening part of Fremont was, so I figured I would find it on my own. I got off and walked through a residential neighborhood. After walking up a hill I reached a highway. Obviously wrong. I head back down the hill and walk up the street to a bridge that crosses the highway. I reach Fremont Street. Seems like a safe bet to take me to a place worth checking out.

I walk down the hill, which is covered with dying leaves and big trees hanging over the sidewalk. Reminds me of the Northeast and its beautiful foliage. Heading further down the street I finally reach the lively part of Fremont. Fremont, which has the sign labeling the area “The center of the universe”, is a very artsy, fun section of the city. I walked around the area checking out the little shops, cafes, and restaurants.

Nothing to cross off the list, but I am making progress on a few items at a time. I have started riding my bike every other day to start my efforts to get fit. With my mountain bike, I ride from the University District down to the Burke-Gilman trail and then ride to the end in Ballard. Once I get there, I turn around and head home. The entire ride is about 7 miles, which I do quite quickly. At the very least, I feel healthier and its nice to get out and see the views of Seattle. I hope to continue to bike more and more, soon adding more hills and distance. What is nice about the trail is that it is quite wide and mostly flat. I find the hills to be tough in Seattle, especially with a heavy mountain bike. As I get more interested in biking, I may look to upgrade to a nicer road bike where hills will seem less daunting, but for now I am content with my affordable bicycle and free exercise.

With my health in mind, I have also tried to eat more fruits, vegetables, and fibers. I want to be healthy when I am young, and Seattle is a great place to get inspired to be fit. I pass countless people on the trail everyday. It seems everyone is out biking, running, skateboarding, or just strolling. I know that getting in shape will have benefits to my physical and mental health.

I have also made efforts to get involved in clubs. Being a huge snowboarder, I made sure to join the snowboarding club. I reached out to the president for more information and think the club will be great for me. Not only is it a great way to meet new people with similar interests, but it involves me doing my favorite thing, snowboarding. Rutgers never had a snowboard club, so I feel like I missed out on meeting snowboarders at Rutgers and going on school organized trips. Washington’s club organizes trips, gets your discounts, and organizes carpooling to the mountain through the week. It even covers the gas money, which means I can get up to the mountains for a reasonable price. Needless to say, I am excited to get up in the mountains where the fluffy powder is waiting for my waxed board to glide through it. I have been lucky enough to snowboard in many great places on multiple continents, but I have always wanted to ride a powder day at Mt. Baker and go up to Whistler. Soon, I will have that chance, and I can’t wait. Here’s a video to show just how awesome Mt. Baker is!

For anyone who is making a list of things to do, you can’t overlook getting in shape, or for many of you, staying in shape. And for someone in a new place like myself, the best way to meet new people and get out of your room is to get involved in clubs!

At around 1 o’clock I decided to head over to the Fremont troll. For any non-Seattle readers, Fremont is a neighborhood in Seattle close to the U-district. Underneath the aurora bridge lives a giant slab of concrete art, better known as, the troll.

So I took my bike, my camera, and advice from Google maps and headed on my way. I am new to biking this city, so I trusted Google maps to take me to the troll. Well, I took 40th street pretty much as far as I could until I hit a steep hill. Instead of straying from my pre-calculated path, I continued up this monster. Let it be known, my bike is a mountain bike, not some light, big wheeled, road bike, so this climb was a lot more strenuous than you’d imagine. After I struggled to reach the top, I needed a break for my newly gelatinous legs.

After a short break I was ready to cruise down hill. That didn’t last long; I was soon met again by more hills. This time, with the bridge insight, I decided to walk the few blocks up to the troll as others biked right on by. I guess the bucket list item “get in shape” should be one of my priorities.

Upon arriving to the troll I was surprised I was not the only one. It was Wednesday around 1:30 in the afternoon and there were about 9 people taking pictures and climbing on the troll. Prior to seeing the troll, I really did not know what to expect. I hadn’t looked at pictures so I went in with no expectations. Well, the troll has got to be over 20 feet tall and is even holding a Volkswagen beetle. Needless to say, I was impressed and inspired. The troll was built in effort to strengthen the Fremont community through art (the community voted on the design and troll was selected). Still being new to Seattle, I can really appreciate this sort of movement. Back east, you don’t get much love for the arts, at least not where I resided in suburban north jersey or New Brunswick. It is interesting to see how, even in a major city like Seattle, community can still exist, and in fact, collectively make something that is noticed, respected, and frankly, cool.

First off, I wish I had more pictures for this entry, but it was well before I even did not start the blog, nor was my camera unpacked. So, as a result, this blog has a few shitty iPhone photos, but it’ll do.

My first Mariners game starts, nicely enough, at orientation. Near the end of orientation, as we are all getting ready for the tour of campus, I realized I needed to meet a friend more my age (no offense to any other MCDMers I might have met that day). So I approached a fellow named Ian and we ended up talking about sports, snowboarding, and television; My kind of conversation. We ended up talking most of the tour instead of really paying attention to where we were going. Almost immediately after the tour ended, we decided to get a couple of beers over at Earl’s on the Ave. I mean, we just sat through a 4-hour orientation we clearly needed some drinks!